Blackphone: A secure, encrypted smartphone for the post-Snowden era

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Riding on the recent revelations of the NSA’s widescale and seemingly indiscriminate interception of communications, Silent Circle and Geeksphone are teaming up to produce the “Blackphone” — a customized Android smartphone that has the necessary hardware and software to make secure phone calls, send secure messages, store and transfer files securely, and to browse the web privately and securely. The Blackphone (pictured above) will work with any GSM carrier, and it will be “among the top performers” performance-wise. There’s no word on price, but we should find out more when it becomes available to pre-order at Mobile World Congress on February 24.

The Blackphone is the brainchild of Phil Zimmerman, creator of the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption software, and co-founder of Silent Circle, a firm that specializes in encrypted communications. Geeksphone is a Spanish startup that created the Firefox OS developer preview smartphones. Both companies are small, with Geeksphone having a bit of a reputation for hyping up vaporware. Silent Circle has three products to its name: Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Silent Mail (which was shut down following the NSA/Lavabit/secure email snafu in mid-2013). It would be wrong to say that Silent Circle is a big and successful company, but the reviews for its software are generally very positive. It seems to know what it’s doing, as far as encryption software goes.

Despite a fairly impressive and foreboding website, there aren’t a whole lot of details for the Blackphone. The basic gist of it is that Silent Circle and Geeksphone are taking Android, baking in all of Silent Circle’s secure communication software, and calling it PrivatOS (which is hopefully pronounced priva-toss). There’s no word on whether Blackphone will only work with other Blackphones, or whether you’ll be able to make encrypted calls over standard GSM networks (Silent Phone is a VoIP app). Encryption in software is nice, but it’s useless unless the hardware (the sending phone, the network, the receiving phone) is also secure. Presumably there will be some fancy cryptographic chip inside each phone, too, to allow for secure file storage.

Qualcomm’s MDM9600 baseband chip. Believe it or not, there’s a whole second operating system and processor sitting inside, working behind the scenes, with full access to your phone’s hardware.

There are also no details about what Secret Circle/Geeksphone intend to do about the baseband, which is running its own proprietary operating system and has full access to most of the phone’s hardware (microphone, GPS, etc.) In reality, if the NSA is snooping on smartphone users, it’s through the baseband. It’s possible that the Blackphone will feature an open-source baseband — which would be utterly amazing and game-changing — but unlikely.

Really, for a phone that’s meant to be all about security, it’s a little bit worrying that we’re having to speculate about the entirety of its feature set. We don’t even know what the screen size will be, or the SoC, or the on-board storage. Will Silent Circle/Geeksphone use components that have been confirmed to have no backdoors in? Will the phone be submitted to independent cryptanalysis before it goes on sale? Why, six weeks before it’s available to pre-order, do we know virtually nothing about a device that’s meant to revolutionize secure communications? The only way Blackphone will gain confidence from the security community, and thus consumers, is if Silent Circle/Geeksphone are completely transparent. It might still happen, but it doesn’t look good for now. We’ll find out more at MWC 2014

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eonvee375

cool, now NSA wont know that i watch porn…

wanker

I think they’ll just assume.

eonvee375

i know that they are touching to the privacy and theres some bigger point to it, but i mean an average Joe doesnt need an extra layer of James Bond protection… stop thinking that you are so interesting ^^

wanker

I think they’ll just assume.

http://petegrif.tumblr.com/ Pete Griffiths

The baseband OS would indeed seem to be a major problem. As is the hardware. Validating any product of such complexity as truly secure is a herculean task.

http://petegrif.tumblr.com/ Pete Griffiths

The baseband OS would indeed seem to be a major problem. As is the hardware. Validating any product of such complexity as truly secure is a herculean task.

dc

Secure Phone, brought to you by the engineers at NSA who promise not to spy on you. They really mean it this time.

Xplorer4x4

Correct me if I am wrong but unless the person on the other end of the line has encryption to, it does no good..Plus, there was an article on here not to long ago, from info produced by Snowden I believe, saying the NSA is building a quantum computer to break any encryption. While I don’t agree with the spying, I think encryption is virtually pointless.

Antoine Talbot

I was thinking the same about the phone on the other end problem. And also, I don`t really see why anybody would need such a level of privacy protection/encryption…. unless you are part of a criminal organisation. In short, is this the ultimate mafioso and terrorist cellphone?

Heath Parsons

NEED versus WANT. I want some frickin privacy. I don’t NEED to have blinds on my windows, but I don’t want a peeping tom looking at me while I’m cooking dinner. If I want 1024 bit encryption on my device, who’s to tell me I can’t unless /they’re/ up to no good?

Antoine Talbot

I get your point, and I respect that some might WANT more privacy. But personally I won’t pay a box more for something that isn’t a problem for me. Its not like everyone can listen my conversation by simply picking up their phone as in the old days. For sure, I want good encryption for things like online transaction etc.. But that, I think, is already well secured. Just my 2 cents, but anyone is free to buy whatever phone they want.

Xplorer4x4

Your missing the point(even though Atonie was blowing this out of perportion imo). Wanting privacy is not a bad thing. Spending money and not getting the privacy you are expecting is pointless. The pointless part is 1. The NSA can listen in on the unencrypted end defeating the purpose of your investment. 2. If the NSA has/will have the computer to break all encryption, then whats the point of paying for the encryption hardware?

Xplorer4x4

Your missing the point(even though Atonie was blowing this out of perportion imo). Wanting privacy is not a bad thing. Spending money and not getting the privacy you are expecting is pointless. The pointless part is 1. The NSA can listen in on the unencrypted end defeating the purpose of your investment. 2. If the NSA has/will have the computer to break all encryption, then whats the point of paying for the encryption hardware?

wanker

Agreed. Who needs privacy? When I am sexting my wife, I am thrilled to know that complete strangers have access to what I say.

wanker

Agreed. Who needs privacy? When I am sexting my wife, I am thrilled to know that complete strangers have access to what I say.

Marrach

And if the Device is manufactured in China…we should trust it BECAUSE???

wanker

China spies less on foreign citizens than the Americans.

Marrach

Wow…and you know this…HOW, exactly?
Particularly since the general profile of people who will most likely be willing to spend $$$ for this phone WON’T be the Girlfriend posting her latest boyfriend goings on on Facebook on the Bus.
Like the Criminals say: Why do they rob the Bank? ‘Cause That’s where the $$$$ Is!

wanker

Because most countries, that are not America dont give a flying f*** about foreign citizens.

Its the same reason I dont worry about China invading my country, or toppling its democratically elected govt. But the f***ing Americans? Thats a whole different story.

Marrach

Ah…One of the Travel Class. You rode in an airplane. Therefore that makes you a sovereign expert on all things International.
Well, good for you!

op

Uhhhhhh……..BECAUSE the NSA is not Chinese?

zapper

What about “Arms Export Control Act” ??????
Also the Zimmerman’s law “The natural flow of technology tends to move in the direction of making surveillance easier, and the ability of computers to track us doubles every eighteen months”.

Please dont try to fool us anymore. PGP was forced to have backdoors we all know. Similarly this product too will have to comply to US regulations a.k.a provide backdoors or weaken defenses to make NSA have homo;sexual act on you ppl.
This is nothing but ‘Create a demand then supply’ marketing ploy a.k.a make more money.
Go and rest Zimmerman , world is getting smarter day by day similar to your law.
We all know that America is ra;ping all people for too long using technology and considers it as its birthright.
“Dont buy ANY American product”.

SpideyBry

“Really, for a phone that’s meant
to be all about security, it’s a little bit worrying that we’re having
to speculate about the entirety of its feature set. We don’t even know
what the screen size will be, or the SoC, or the on-board storage.”

This phone is all about security and you’re worried that we don’t know what the screen size will be. If I’m interested in an ultra secure phone the screen size is low on my list of interests.

ScoobiJohn

i dont get why people are so annoyed by what the nsa does – they dont give a shit if your having an affair etc they only thing they are looking for is terrorists and this phone gives them a way to plan acts of terror without getting caught, how is that a good thing??

Tim Johnson

Ha, best commercialization for terrorists I’ve seen all year

SweetSeat

Normally that would be true if the NSA only implanted devices with an activatable tap… but the NSA does bulk collection of phone, internet, and just about everything they can get their hands on. They compile every data about everyone, and it begins to become a power play. If they want you in jail, they can find that you wanted to smoke mj with your friend 2 weeks ago last year, and they have the text to prove it.

Not to mention it goes against the constitution of the country, which is more important than the local, state, and federal laws. The 4th amendment clearly states they need a non-broad warrant in order to search our things

paulhugel

Leaks from Edward Snowden reveal a $79.7 million research program
called “Penetrating Hard Targets,” including classified funding to
research a quantum computer that could be used for cryptography.

Wikipedia: Necessity is the mother of invention is an English proverb meaning that difficult or impossible scenarios prompt inventions aimed at reducing the difficulty.[2]

Meaning: In Oxford Dictionary the proverb has been defined as– when the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.[3]

According to Cambridge Dictionary, this expression means– if someone really needs to do something, (s)he will think of a way of doing it.[4]

Longman dictionary has defined the proverb as– “if someone really needs to do something, they will find a way of doing it.”[5]

If not the Blackphone, or Redphone, or Cryptofone then I believe an all pervasive truly open source solution will emerge, secure encrypted communications will become a future reality.

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